Navigating Menopause in the Workplace
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Practical guidance for compassionate, menopause-inclusive workplaces
This episode is for every employer, manager, HR professional, and colleague who works alongside women in the mining and resources sector - and beyond. If you want to understand what menopause actually looks and feels like at work, what it costs organisations to ignore it, and what practical, low-cost steps you can take right now to build a more compassionate and inclusive environment, this conversation is for you.
Host Kabelo Rathobei is joined by four expert guests - menopause thought leader Xoli Madlala (Redefining Menopause Africa), CEO Carla Hudson (Mind Care Evolution), Group Head of Talent and Transformation Carla Radloff, and leadership coach Tracey Smail - for an honest, grounded discussion on menopause in the workplace. Together they cover the full spectrum: from premature menopause and perimenopause to surgically and medically induced menopause, and from hot flashes and brain fog to anxiety, aggression, joint pain, frozen shoulder, and the hidden identity crisis that many women face alone.
The conversation tackles real statistics - two out of five women hide their menopause struggles at work, and one in ten will resign because of them - and translates those numbers into a business case for action. Guests discuss the feedback loop between symptoms and performance, the dangers of misdiagnosis and over-prescription of antidepressants, and the concept of executive privilege that blinds senior leaders to the daily reality faced by frontline and underground workers.
Practical, industry-specific solutions are front and centre: flexible working hours, breathable PPE and overalls designed with women in mind, access to cool water underground, appropriate bathroom facilities, menopause policies, focus groups, wellness webinars, walking clubs, on-site exercise facilities, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT and MHT) awareness. The panel also calls for multilingual communication, male allyship, leadership education from the top down, and the normalization of menopause as an everyday workplace conversation - not a private or shameful secret.
Whether you are a mining HR director designing your first menopause policy, a line manager who does not know how to start the conversation, a woman in perimenopause wondering whether to speak up, or a 20-something who wants to understand what lies ahead, this episode delivers the awareness, empathy, and practical tools to move from silence to meaningful support.
This episode is for every employer, manager, HR professional, and colleague who works alongside women in the mining and resources sector - and beyond. If you want to understand what menopause actually looks and feels like at work, what it costs organisations to ignore it, and what practical, low-cost steps you can take right now to build a more compassionate and inclusive environment, this conversation is for you.
Host Kabelo Rathobei is joined by four expert guests - menopause thought leader Xoli Madlala (Redefining Menopause Africa), CEO Carla Hudson (Mind Care Evolution), Group Head of Talent and Transformation Carla Radloff, and leadership coach Tracey Smail - for an honest, grounded discussion on menopause in the workplace. Together they cover the full spectrum: from premature menopause and perimenopause to surgically and medically induced menopause, and from hot flashes and brain fog to anxiety, aggression, joint pain, frozen shoulder, and the hidden identity crisis that many women face alone.
The conversation tackles real statistics - two out of five women hide their menopause struggles at work, and one in ten will resign because of them - and translates those numbers into a business case for action. Guests discuss the feedback loop between symptoms and performance, the dangers of misdiagnosis and over-prescription of antidepressants, and the concept of executive privilege that blinds senior leaders to the daily reality faced by frontline and underground workers.
Practical, industry-specific solutions are front and centre: flexible working hours, breathable PPE and overalls designed with women in mind, access to cool water underground, appropriate bathroom facilities, menopause policies, focus groups, wellness webinars, walking clubs, on-site exercise facilities, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT and MHT) awareness. The panel also calls for multilingual communication, male allyship, leadership education from the top down, and the normalization of menopause as an everyday workplace conversation - not a private or shameful secret.
Whether you are a mining HR director designing your first menopause policy, a line manager who does not know how to start the conversation, a woman in perimenopause wondering whether to speak up, or a 20-something who wants to understand what lies ahead, this episode delivers the awareness, empathy, and practical tools to move from silence to meaningful support.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and Welcome
- 02:30 Why Menopause Is Still a Workplace Taboo
- 05:00 The Science: Hormones, Neurology, and Menopause
- 08:30 Personal Stories: When You Don't Know What's Happening to You
- 12:00 Menopause and Workplace Culture in Mining
- 15:00 Busting Myths: Who Menopause Really Affects
- 19:00 Brain Fog, Anxiety, and the Performance Feedback Loop
- 23:00 The Privilege Problem: Who Gets to Self-Accommodate
- 28:00 Statistics: Hidden Struggles and the Cost of Silence
- 31:30 Starting the Conversation with Your Manager
- 38:30 What Good Organisational Support Looks Like
- 43:00 Industry-Specific Solutions for Mining and Frontline Work
- 49:00 Executive Privilege and the Talent Retention Business Case
- 52:00 Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Bone Density
- 57:00 Misdiagnosis, HRT, and Advocating for Yourself
- 59:00 Building a Menopause-Inclusive Future: Next Five Years
- 01:06:30 Closing Reflections: One Thing Every Employer Should Know
